Shehu Abdullahi will start for Nigeria against Croatia in today’s group D encounter at Kaliningrad. A decision which has been faulted by fans of the senior national team of Nigeria.
Shehu has failed to cover himself in glory in friendly games ahead of the World Cup with the team struggling to gel when he is on the pitch. A sharp contrast whenever Dutch-Nigerian defender Tyronne Ebuehi gets to play.
Many expected Ebuehi to start against Croatia base on the strength of his impressive performance in the friendly games of the team, but coach Gernot Rohr has named Shehu Abdullahi to start ahead of the newly signed Benfica defender.
Owngoalnigeria.com has obtained an explanation behind the reason to start Bursaspor ace Shehu Abdullahi despite most people expecting him to at least drop to the bench.
” It wasn’t an easy decision but the coach did what is best in the interest of the team at least base on their performance in the training sessions of the team. Abdullahi was poor during the friendly games but it was mainly due to the fact that he was observing the Islamic Ramadan Fast”, a source revealed to Owngoalnigeria.com.
” Abdullahi has gotten his form back and in a game like this against a team that love to play from the flanks. A player like Shehu who is naturally a better marker is best to curb whatever danger Croatia want to cause from the flanks”.
Michael James
